Shoelaces
by Pinkmoon
Summary: Lizzie is off limits. Why? Because she has a crush on you, remember? I think she likes you, too. Derek and Edwin have a talk.


Shoelaces

By Pinkmoon

Disclaimer: I do not own the show or anything involved with it nor am I making money.

AN: This is sort of a sequel to "A Purple Polka Dotted Elephant" but I think it can stand on it's own. Still you might want to read the first one. Anyways, I'm still struggling with keeping everyone in character but hopefully I'm getting better. If anyone wants to point of things to me in a review, I'll be eternally gratefully.

* * *

Ceilings have such interesting patterns. Especially the popcorn kind. That's the kind of ceiling Derek has in his room. He and I use to spend hours looking for pictures on our ceilings when we were younger.

The first time had been when I was six and had gotten strep throat. Mom was still living with us and forced me to stay in bed all day. Marti was about one at the time so Mom was pretty much with her all day; Dad was at work, and Derek at school. Needless to say, I was one very bored kid.

That afternoon, Derek came to my room after school. He had been about ten at the time and still had that really long hair. That day he had been sporting a ponytail, blue collared shirt, and khaki pants. That was mostly Mom's doing. I think it was picture day at school or something.

"Hey Eddie," he chirped. He used to call me that all the time. But I soon came to believe that it sounded sissy and he stopped. Now he only calls me that if he wants to annoy me or when I'm sick.

I gave him a weak hello and he immediately frowned. He won't admit it now, but Derek can't stand to see anyone sick and miserable. He doesn't care if you're injured or bleeding because he deals with that type of pain in hockey and has little, if any, pity for you. But say you don't feel well and he becomes this nervous, twittering mother hen.

My six year brain had figured out this weakness and I was going to use it to my advantage. Derek came to my bed and crawled up next to me. Dumb move by him since I was contagious but he obviously didn't know or didn't care. I turned over to my side and looked at him with all the misery I could muster.

"What's wrong, kid?" he asked, just the opening I was looking for.

"I'm bored Derek. Can't you stay home tomorrow and play with me?" My voice was raspy from the sickness.

"I can't," he sighed. "Mommy and Daddy won't let me."

"But--"

"No, Edwin. I can't stay home," he said firmly. "Besides, you and I can't really play. You have to stay in bed. Mom said so."

"But I can't do anything," I whined.

"You can find animals on your ceiling," he said, smiling slightly. I gave him a confused look.

"Turn on your back," he instructed. I did so, staring up at my ceiling. All I saw was that white, bumpy stuff. No animals.

"Now, you know how you find pictures in the clouds?" he asked. I nodded solemnly. My teacher had us do that at school last week.

"Well, it's the same thing, only you're looking at the ceiling," he explained. I scrunched my eyes as I began to diligently search for something on my ceiling. Wait a second…I think I see…I do…

"I see a bear!" I declared as loudly as I could. Derek grinned at me and quickly joined in my game.

"Edwin" a commanding voice calls me back to the present. I'm now lying on Derek's unkempt bed. He sits at my feet, fifteen and hair cut short. He's playing with my shoelaces. It's a weird quirk of his. Every time someone with shoes on put their feet near him, he always idly messes with the laces. He told me once that he never realizes that he's doing it and can't really help it. But it's still kind of annoying because he has a tendency to tie both of your shoes together without you noticing. Did once to Casey and she about killed herself trying to walk. That reminds me…

"You like Casey," I say. He just told me a few minutes before I let my mind drift off onto ceilings. Casey, I still can't believe it. Casey MacDonald, Miss Klutzilla herself, had caught my brother's affections. I pity her. Derek can get pretty aggressive when chasing a girl. He hasn't had to in a while, but I know that guy. He's determined.

Which might explain why he's so nonchalant about this whole thing. Seriously, he's acting like he already has her, it's just a matter of making her realize it. He's just sitting there, waiting for me to agree to help win the girl of his dreams. He even told me that I wouldn't have to do much, he's already been hinting to Casey about his feelings and he's pretty sure she feels the same even if she won't admit it and claims that she has only feelings of hate and disgust for him. See, he's either determined or an idiot. And I will not see the light of day for a year if I say it's the last so therefore, he's determined.

"Yes, I like Casey," he repeats me, annoyance in his voice. Obviously to him, I shouldn't be so shocked. But this is stepsister Casey, the one Derek went out of his way to annoy. I mean, their fights are notorious. And she isn't all that attractive looking.

I mean, sure, she's pretty but she isn't the stand-out, flashy, look-at-me pretty. Hers is the kind you have to hunt for. You have to imagine how the harsh lines of her face would soften with her hair down. You have to imagine how classy she might look if she didn't dress in her somewhat childish clothes. You have to imagine her eyes would standout if she did her make-up a bit darker. She's way too subtle in looks for my taste.

"I don't believe it," I mumble.

"Why? You like Lizzie." That earned him a glare. I should have never told him about my crush. He always seems to bring it up.

He and Casey had needed to negotiate some argument a few months ago. So Lizzie and I met up in the game closet. She must have just gotten out of the shower when Casey dragged her into the mess because her hair was still damp and a faint scent of vanilla permeated the small space. I had looked in to her cerulean eyes. Dumb move on my part because I got sucked into a vortex of blue and barely managed to get Derek a semi-decent deal.

Once I got back to Derek's room, he demanded to know what had gotten me so distracted. All that week my skills had been…incompetent and he had reached his limit in patience. Since he was frustrated (which makes him _very, very_ dangerous) and it's about impossible to lie to the Lord of Lies, I told him about my crush on Lizzie.

"Edwin, just because you like her doesn't mean you have to give into her," he said as he turned away from my meek and submissive form back to his computer. "Give her a challenge. Make it interesting for her. Force her to think about you."

I had been shocked that he was giving me advice on getting our stepsister. Now it made perfect sense.

"Lizzie is off limits," I declare and redirect my glare to the ceiling.

"Why?" he asked, his voice dripping with laughter.

"Because she has a crush on you, remember?" I snapped acidly.

I still remember the day Casey proclaimed the news in a squeaky, high pitched voice as she came down the stairs, Lizzie racing after her, begging her not to tell. Man, I had been angry. All that time I had been daydreaming and trying to figure out away to tell her, she'd had been crushing on my brother. I hated Derek instantly as Dad and Nora took Lizzie back to her room to talk and Derek followed after them, saying he would be in his room.

It was always like that. Girls flocked to Derek and adored him and worshipped the ground he touched, while I was pushed off to the side, forced into the shadows, and ignored. I never understood what it was that girls found so…irresistible about him and so detestable about me.

I ran to his room and started screaming at him the moment I slammed the door. I blamed the whole thing on him, claiming this was one of his desperate attempts to use me for his own sick amusement. And oddly enough, he let me. He just sat on his bed and let me yell at him about something he really had no control over. He didn't even try to threaten or reason with me. He was silent the whole time and let me leave without saying a word.

"I told you," he was saying, bring me back from my memories, "I talked to her about it. She's over it."

"Uh-huh." I still didn't believe him. I mean _he_ believes that but I don't. That night that everyone found out about Lizzie's crush, after he had talked to her, Derek called me into his room and told me the same thing. We were sitting on his bed, much like we were now, as he described his talk to her. Then he surprised me.

"Listen, Eddie." He used the name I had not heard in ages. "I would never intentionally cause a girl to like me when I knew that you liked her. You're my brother, you come first."

It was a strange moment, Derek behaving brotherly and kindly and I laid there, remembering the time I had been six and ill. Back then I had thought I had the best big brother in the world. In a way I still do, but now I've realized that he isn't perfect. Now I know that he's selfish, demeaning, a control freak. But that moment, that instant, almost made me believe that he was still that perfect, big brother who could do no wrong my six year old mind had envisioned.

But, even though he told me that Lizzie was over her crush, I still can't believe it. She still watches him like a hawk, especially when he argues with Casey.

"I think she likes you, too." The random comment snapped me out of my stupor. My head popped up from the pillow it rested on. He looked dead serious. For once.

"Really?" I ask cautiously.

He nods, "Really."

"How do you know?" I'm still hesitant to take his word for it. I know what my eyes have seen, and Lizzie showing any romantic interest in me isn't it.

"Day I talked to her," he answers casually.

"She told you that?" I'm sitting up now. Lizzie actually likes me? Not Derek? Not God's gift to women Derek?

"Not exactly. I just hinted that you may like her and she seemed…keen to the idea," he explains, looking down at my shoes. He looks vaguely surprised to find that the laces are all in knots.

"Why?" I groan, and plop back down onto the pillows, unconcerned about my shoes for the moment. Great. There's no telling what she thinks now. Man, she's going to think I'm desperate or something.

"Because I told her I like Casey." Derek's grinning at me. I know he is. I can feel that stupid smile of his. Man, I hate him right now.

"You told her before you told me?" So much for brotherly loyalty.

"Well, actually she guessed but yeah, I told her before you," he grins at me. How can he be enjoying this? I swear he's out to ruin my life. And we're back to Casey. The girl he likes. Right, enough about me and Lizzie. Casey (and getting back at Derek) is the main issue.(Man, this family is going to get so screwed up if we all do end up dating each other.)

"Anyways, back to Casey. What are you going to do?" Yes, lets put the pressure on him now. I bet he doesn't have any idea, although that's not fazing him like I thought it would.

As he ponders my question, he starts to pull on my shoelaces again. I look down to watch his hands. He's unconsciously undoing the knots he previously made without missing a beat. I swear that's got to be the weirdest thing I've ever seen.

"We could double date," he finally answers.

"What are you talking about?" I sigh as I look back at his face.

"You and me could take Lizzie and Casey out to the movies or something, on a date," he explains slowly. Double dating with my brother with our dates being our stepsisters? Okay, even though that sounds really wrong (which I will conveniently ignore), it also sounds like it might possibly be fun. If "the Derek" can get it to work.

"And just how are you planning on getting them to agree?" Casey wouldn't be caught dead with him and there was no telling what Lizzie thought of me.

"Tell Casey about you and Lizzie. She'll want to play matchmaker. I suggest going to the movies. She'll agree that's the perfect place. And I'll work out the rest of the details later."

"You're going to use getting me and Lizzie together to get you and Casey together?" I ask in disbelief.

"Ingenious, isn't it?" he smirked.

"More like insane," I grumble. Could he get any crazier? And what in the world was he going to do to me to make this "ingenious" plan work?

"If it works, it works. What do you have to complain about anyways? Getting you and Lizzie together will be the easy part." He seemed almost bitter. But he was right. Lizzie and I have a better chance of hooking up than he does with Casey. Why did he fall for a girl who hated him?

"Maybe Lizzie can put a good word in for you once you get us together," I half kid, half mean. He looks at me and seems to get my meaning. He nods. I take it for a thank you.

I look back at my shoes. He's undone the knots and retied the laces into neat bows.

* * *

Well, I hoped you enjoyed it and that I didn't get it to OOC. I'm planning on doing the date in another short story; I just need to figure out the point of view. So, anyways, please review.

Pinkmoon


End file.
